Management of forest areas used for ecotourism and recreation in Turkey

Abstract

Forests have major natural attraction for tourists and play an important role in the interaction between the environment and tourism. Turkey is facing an increasing pressure on its natural resources due to uncontrolled tourism growth that is aimed at achieving short-term economic benefits. Hence, the main objectives of the study are to, describe the main features of Turkey's forest resources that are used for ecotourism and recreation, highlight the related issues in current policy documents, and emphasize the problems that have occurred during its management process. The data was collected by contacting officials and analyzing the contents of national policy documents. It was found out that the use of Turkey's forest resources for the purpose of recreation has increased recently. However, public authorities have not substantially improved the visitor management and monitoring systems. Harmonization of tourism and recreation-related utilization with conservation objectives, prioritization of more effective planning and controlling studies, and enhancing communication, cooperation, and collaboration among the interest groups are the major suggestions of the study.